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Having a party at your home

Nothing like a good party to relax and unwind – even better if all the attendees belong to the same close circle of friends. Yet it pays to know how to cater to your guests even if they’re your close, year-long friends – making sure their potential needs are met will go a long way towards helping you host that perfect bash for the ages, even if the ‘bash’ in question is really just a couple of friends discussing a book with some wine and dim lighting. Here are some tips to help you stage a terrific party.

Having a great party at your home

What’s on the menu?

If you’re throwing a party to be remembered, you don’t want to respond to your patrons’ hunger by ordering pizza. It’ll make you look as if you didn’t care all that much about the party, not to mention that the delivery’s chef could have an off day and prepare some wonky-tasting pizzas as a result.

Instead, make sure that there’s enough food laying around to provide a full course meal to each of your patrons. Make sure to keep food allergies in mind, as well as everyone’s preferences (no serving beef to your vegetarian friends!). Other than that, feel free to surprise your attendees with creative food choices just so long as they fill up the stomach.

“So, what are we going to be doing, anyways?”

Right now, it might not seem necessary to plan out your party ahead of time in minuscule detail. Heck, it might seem downright lame – after all, aren’t the best parties and get-togethers spontaneous?

Sure, maybe they are. But even the best party or event can come to a sudden halt with attendees wondering what to do next or even doing the feared looking-at-the-watch motion. If parties were easy to stage and always ran smoothly, event planning wouldn’t be such a lucrative profession for many.

To be on the safe side, assemble a ‘schedule’ of potential activities that you, your friends and your family can do. It doesn’t have to be one that you’ll ever bring up – in fact, it doesn’t even have to make its way out of your head and onto a piece of paper or your notebook.

But it pays to plan for things going sour even when the worst case scenario can be described by a single, seemingly-harmless word: boredom. The best party host always knows what to do to keep the people in good spirits, even when faced with events of an unpredictable nature.

Decorations, decorations…

Few things can make a party glow brighter than the correct decorative measures ahead of time. Yes, you’re all friends, and you can have a good time even inside a moldy basement or garage. But there’s no reason not to treat your loved ones to some nice visuals that will encourage them to relax and have fun.

Are you throwing a holiday gathering? Consider yourself lucky – you’ll have no shortage of decorative ideas if it’s Christmas or Easter you’re gathering around. If your event is more of an impromptu one, you’ll have to get creative. Does each of you share a common interest? Bring it to life inside (and outside) of the party headquarters. Are you riding on a recent obsession or a new hobby? Don’t hesitate to dress your home up in a way that shows it.

Don’t worry about whether your friends will like it – the mere fact that you went to the effort will mean a lot to them.